1st Long Ride - 4800 miles / 8 days

[FastSpy]

Awesome, I have been on many of the same roads. This one is where my buddy Jamie ran out of gas right up at that cut through the rock

He might still be there. :lol:

Didn't see him but I sure wanted to stop where he was and take that picture.. pretty cool spot cut through the rock after the approach which is so open.

 

[RoeckerJ]

Thanks for sharing the pics of the ride..

 

[harleystar]

That's a lot of miles per day. I recently did just shy of 8000 on a western odyssey, but it was over 23 days; a much more leisurely pace and better suited to my stock seat. I did pass through the black hills on the way back from Oregon and really enjoyed the western landscapes. Your pictures make me want to go back to ride the roads that I missed. Thanks for sharing.

 

[FastSpy]

Looks like you missed US 12 across southern Utah. Next time make sure you hit that.

Great photos!

Unfortunately I did not get any good photos of US 12 in UT. My route took me down hwy 72 off I70 (fantastic road for fun with no traffic) to hwy 24 and on to US12. This allowed me to loop thru Escalante and Bryce canyon. I then routed back north on 22 to catch 24 and then 95 down to Glen Canyon.

I really wanted to ride the Devils hwy again, haven't been on it since 2004, but just didn't have time to include it in my adventures.

 

[FastSpy]

That is very impressive mileage. Was your overall trip mileage over 50mpg?

My MPG was consistently 50 or above in the higher elevation states (hardly any interstate travel) however across the plains it plunged down into the lower 30's a few times across SD due to high head winds and rain. Also I faced strong headwinds across NE and IA on the way out to CO so my MPG was down around 38 to 42 at higher speeds on the interstate.

I did not actually figure my mpg for the entire trip... wish I would have but trying to jam that many miles in such a short time period did not leave me much leisure time and I had plenty of work waiting for me upon return.

Had one "OH $HIT" moment at 7am near Wall, SD on the way home when an unsuspecting deer shot out of the ditch and I had to hall it down from 80 mph in solid rain. Never would have thought any animals lived in that terrain or that they would even be out moving around in high winds and solid rain. Based on my ride experience, I am just glad that I own an FJR and have practiced enough emergency stops to have the skill to avoid having raw venison for breakfast before visiting the nearest ER.